Marketing Research
She doesn’t have runway model looks, doesn’t dress provocatively, and has no gimmicks added to her music, says 60 Minutes reporter Anderson Cooper. However, what Adele does have, besides talent, is a grasp of business principles.

Consider: after her Grammy win several years ago, the singing sensation took a part-time job in a record shop sorting and labeling CDs. Her presence baffled fellow employees. But Adele’s seemingly odd behavior had a commonsense purpose: she wanted to learn more about music and what people were buying. Hopefully the manager/owner of the store educated his workers about market research and its value.

Today, fans are buying Adele’s records to the tune of 100,000 albums each week. And there is nothing baffling about that.

Lesson: Working in a retail location is one way to learn about latest trends and what customers are buying.

Soup’s Not On
In the early 1900’s, the Campbell’s soup product line was first marketed to wealthy people, but they weren’t interested in the convenience of the product. They had servants who prepared their meals. Later, the working-class population was targeted as the consumers who would value the benefits of a quick-cooking meal. Today, some of the company’s earlier products are no longer available in the United States. For instance, Ox Tail Soup.

Lesson: Startups and established companies often make mistakes in predicting which segment of the population will be interested in their products and services.

Reference
Finding Your Niche